To increase energy access, the Bank is financing a $140 million project to modernize and expand an electric power plant in Mon State. The revamped plant will produce 250% more electricity with... Show More + the same amount of gas, with the increased capacity benefiting areas around cities and the national grid. Longer term, a national electrification strategy, backed by the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative, will guide delivery of reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity services to the population of around 60 million. In rural areas, the strategy probably will include a mix of on-grid and off-grid energy and renewables such as wind power, says Shankar.IFC, the arm of the Bank Group focused on the private sector, has invested $2 million for microfinance loans supporting about 200,000 micro and small businesses, mostly run by women, and is helping three other institutions build the capacity to offer such financing. The investment is part of an overall effort to s Show Less -

Urban poverty – the new challengeNext, Kim visited Gwaltoli, a low-income neighborhood in the once-proud industrial city of Kanpur, long a magnet for poor rural migrants. With some 10 million people moving... Show More + into urban areas each year in search of jobs and opportunity, India is in the throes of a historic rural-urban migration, second in magnitude only to China’s.Gwaltoli epitomizes the challenges of unplanned urban settlements in India, where administrations are facing huge strains in providing jobs, housing, and infrastructure – power, water, sewerage, garbage disposal, roads, and transportation. With large extended families sharing tiny one-room homes and common toilets and taps, life in Gwaltoli spills into the streets. Women scrub clothes, winnow wheat, or sit in groups stringing garlands of marigolds to earn a paltry sum.Rural ways fill urban spaces. Cows lie in the middle of the road, goats bleat, and cow-dung cakes dry in the sun, to be used to cook the evening meal when mo Show Less -